To think that with over 1million pensioners in poverty, removing the WFA makes Labour the nasty party, who tell blatant lies?

[TealTraybake]

And hypocritical lies at that. Just a few months ago Labour ‘vowed to be the party for pensioners’

‘Nearly 1 million people aged over 66 in the UK are living in deprivation, according to government statistics, the highest number since comparable records began.
Labour, which analysed figures from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) records, has vowed to be the party for pensioners, with plans to insulate millions of homes and reduce energy bills. It has also “committed to retaining” the triple lock which guarantees annual rises to the state pension’

I understand the WFA should be means tested - but the current threshold is far too low. Food prices have gone up. Energy prices have gone up. Some pensioners need that WFA 🥺.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/16/nearly-1m-uk-pensioners-deprivation-official-figures

@NotSmallButFunSize

"Which is exactly the same as millions of families who earn a crappy wage but it's just a few pounds over the UC threshold so they get nothing.

There has to be a cut off somewhere"

Absolutely but the cut off at the moment is way too low and many pensioners have far more medical needs than working age people and potentially are more vulnerable or isolated. It's not a like for like comparison. We can all agree it should be means tested without saying it has to be as harsh as it is.

Train driver - because of the impact of the strikes on the economy

The threshold has to be somewhere otherwise it is administratively too difficult/costly to work out who to pay it to.

We have to save money. We can't just give out millions of pounds to loads of people. The pot is finite & while it would be lovely to give it to everyone, doing so is at the expense of paying for other things like proper services for disabled, funding more nurses, paying to train teachers etc.

Pension benefits are also the largest percentage of the benefit budget.

The 1.6 billion raised by cutting the WFA is a minuscule drop in the ocean. It’s such a fucking twisted, cruel thing to do. Especially after billions have just been handed to unions

Some people will accept and excuse literally anything if the bastards doing it are wearing the right coloured rosette. This is where blind tribalism gets us.

But Labour ARE giving out millions of pounds to loads of people!

It really did cost far far too much. To pay out this amount to 10 million people a lot of whom didn't,t even notice it far less. need it.

And as for 4 thousand people dying of cold. A lot more have died or become chronically sick because of the non existent so called National Health Service which isn't fit for purpose.

If you get the full state pension you are about £3 better off a week than someone who is entitled to pension credit and will get the winter fuel payment on top. How is that a fair cut off?

It was quite odd watching Esther McVey find a conscience yesterday, after she and Iain Duncan-Smith brought about the horrendous and cruel changes to disability benefits which caused thousands of people to lose them. People died because of this, a diabetic man was found dead in his flat with no food in his stomach because he’d had his benefits stopped. He still had his disabilities. People were told they were fit for work despite being terminally ill in hospital beds.

There was no anger from every single media outlet. It was just swept under the carpet. And what made it worse was the PM at the time was millionaire David Cameron, who’d claimed DLA for his son, then as soon as he was elected took it away from those who needed it. Just before the last election the Tories proposed going further by proposing taking the money from those of us still “lucky” enough to receive it, dehumanising us and giving us vouchers. No one gives a shit about that either, because according to the media we’re all lazy fuckers and you all buy into that.

In the real world pensioners are in the group who are the least likely to suffer poverty. I can’t get on board with universal benefits for people who don’t need it when we have so many broken public services and a younger generation, who let’s face it are paying for this, who are unlikely to ever see a State Pension let alone a WFA.

Do you know how many millions per DAY we are spending on illegal immigration? No doubt they’re not going to paying their own heating bills either.

If the Tories were removing WFA from some of the poorest in society mumsnet would be up in arms. But as it’s Labour suddenly it’s all ‘what other choice did they have?’

This wasn’t in their manifesto. And they had such a low share of the popular vote they have no real mandate to do things like this

Nope.

Pensioners as a group have been looked after far too well for far too long, to the detriment of all other groups, especially families and single people.

Time for them to share the wealth. They just don't want to and have far too much time on their hands to complain endlessly.

The poorest pensioners are already protected.

There has to be a cut off somewhere and wherever it is people will moan.

Could you clarify your comment about money being handed to unions.

The threshold has to be somewhere, it’s better for it to be means tested then given to so many people who don’t even need it.

Loads of people eligible for pension credit don’t claim it when they could do, so hopefully this will mean more people who really need it will realise they should apply,

I think giving it to all pensioners regardless of their income was crazy, my dad definitely doesn’t need it, plenty of pensioners are doing really well financially.

Absolutely but the cut off at the moment is way too low and many pensioners have far more medical needs than working age people and potentially are more vulnerable or isolated

Can you suggest a threshold that is higher, but that can be operated at minimum cost to ensure the necessary savings?

There isn't one.

They’ve only been in power 10 weeks. They’ve got rid of a universal benefit except for those on low income. State pension has had 2 large increase and another due next April. The triple lock is in place to ensure pensioners don’t fall behind. Bills are less than last year. The government is introducing GB energy to lessen bills. The idea is that pensioners don’t need to rely on a handout. Let’s wait and see what they do in the budget

Are these the very same pensioners that have voted for Tory austerity to be imposed on very single other demographic for years?

State pension due to go up by £900 a year due to the triple lock. Winter fuel allowance is maximum £300. So I fail to see the problem.

1.6bn is a massive massive amount of money. It pays for 350,000 children's school places

I can't wait until all the whining millennials are pensioners. I'm willing to bet they won't be in favour of treating old people like absolute shit then.

Do you need every post on here to be pro Labour?

Isn't there someone better than a public forum for that bias, ie an FB group

I genuinely don’t get the angst. They will take away about £200 from some pensioners but pensions will rise by about £400 for all pensioners.

Where else would people have preferred the money to come from? The same group of employees on higher rate PAYE as usual? Social care? Schools?

The elderly are the only group not to have been shaken down in many years. Everyone should feel the pain of a stagnant economy. Labour didn’t cause the economy to turn to shit.

IMO, there are too many factors rubbing across each other to allow any coherent thought. I am only retired one year, I am in good health, and dont need any public support. BUT, my DM died four weeks ago, quite smoothly, and she was receiving pension credit, and a council tax exemption. She didn't have any extra income or assets to tax, so her estate (a two up, two down terrace in a Midlands town and some furniture (all brown and out of fashion)) has been probated quickly. She worked in MH nursing until she was 78, but not full time. People like her will be very very hard to replace when the state discovers how expensive it is to cover all the hours. The service she contributed to delivering is a shadow of what it was.

I don't know any actual pensioners bothered about this. My mum and dad have thought it should go for ages.

Yes I wonder if some of the people on here will be so forgiving when they come after other groups in order to cut the welfare bill